Objectified Primer In Product Development & DesignIf you want to make stuff sit down this weekend and watch Gary Hustwit's Objectified. Hustwit's film is one of the best walk through the design process we've seen. We've developed a handful of products and the process to turn an idea from murky thoughts to physical reality isn't described well in books.

The product development journey is simultaneously individual and universal. Each designer's take is different but elements of the design process stay common such as:

Web Design Jazz is the conversational alchemy that is website design riffing important conversations your brands have with visitors and potential customers. What about you? What conversations are your having with customers? How did you get there?

17,162 People LaterWe've been asked to make the presentation that created our most viewed Hiaku Deck again at the Iron Yard Code Academy again (made the first presentation six months ago). There were important ideas we shared last time:

* SEO THRIVES or DIES with graphic designers.

* Graphic designers are heroes under siege by many groups.

* Set REALISTIC expectations.* Set reasonable boundaries (with gorillas looking for bananas). * Shared a few easy to remember tips to help designers improve their technical SEO skills.

Obviously we hit a nerve. We will be updating benchmarks shared six months ago to see how those we mentioned fared since. Remember technical SEO is important, but your content must engage, be exciting (visually too) and develop sustainable online community to win over time.

Good luck and if you have SEO questions we didn't cover email them to martin(at)Curagami.com and we will include and send you a Curagami Rules tee.

Design Revolutions Now On CuragamiFinally decided to use @Scoop.it's easy to use embed tool. The tool makes it easy to add content curation to a blog. Simply copy the embed code and your Scoops appear inside your blog.

Why would you want Scoops on a blog? Content curation has more reach and costs less than content creation. Content curation is or can become a big help to content creation.

The "4th Estate" for Scoop.it is finding ways to bring the easy content curation Scoop.it creates with a company's content marketing. Scoop.it's easy to use embed (you embed the feed) bridges the 4th estate of content marketing. Well done!

Good News & Bad NewsAs a rare web marketer with more than ten years experience, I created our first site FoundObjects.com in 1999 (gone now sadly), we want to confirm something every likely reader of our online marketing post already knows - the low hanging fruit is gone plucked by previous generations of pickers.

What to do now? Be something online and start today with these "be something now" tips.

7 Easy To Forget Simple IdeasAs you design your ecommerce store keep in mind these easy to forget but sure to make you more money online commerce tips:

* Sight Lines - visitor eyes go where your models eyes go so point them at something good. * CTAs - don't be afraid to tell your customers what to do with Calls To Action.

* Email - email marketing is the ability to communicate with your tribe without asking permission from a middleman. * Internal Search - tells you if your navigation is working and what customers are looking for so use data from internal search.

* 80:20 Rule - a small set almost always controls a larger set online so find your 80:20 rules and design, merchandise and sell to them.

* Keywords - make sure you use keywords in your navigation and use a rewrite tool to show visitors one set of keys and spiders another.

* Community - create an ASK (for help) and listen more than you talk and online community will form.

Marty Note@David Amerlandis one of the great THINKERS of our generation and he gives much of his work away (as we all do, but his thoughts are worth more than most). Every Sunday David Amerland on G+ shares a “Sunday Read”. Since my prism leans toward web marketing I see lessons in today’s Sunday Read for Internet marketers and web designers.

David is discussing "life design", but web designers would be well advised to watch the TED talks he references and build empathy into their lives and websites. David is a "must follow". Find his blog, twitter and GPlus links in the post and follow him if you want to learn how all of this stuff really works.

Web designers shouldn't be SEO experts since keeping up with DESIGN is a full-time job. But web designers are where SEO rubber meets the Google Road so understanding a handful of ideas is critical to the online success of any designers creations.

Parallax scrolling is a popular design technique used on websites in order to create an illusion of movement on the screen, to help engage website visitors and move visitor yes where you want them AND parallax scrolling plays beautifully on mobile devices!.

No Bait & Switch Parallax Ecommerce Designs PLEASE

Bait & Switch ParallaxEarlier today we shared a Scoop on ecommerce web design trends (http://sco.lt/5bADXl ). CycleMon is a good example of falling in love with an idea, parallax scrolling, and forgetting ecommerce basics such as 1. DON'T MAKE ME THINK and 2. You have 9 Seconds to tell me what you are all about.

http://www.cyclemon.com/mobile/

Cyclemon forces customers to scroll to the bottom of a long list of designs BEFORE they proceed to a Cafe-Press like store. WRONG. Don't be so impressed with your designs you make me spend precious TIME scrolling through ALL of them.

OR if you do so ask me a question. What design best describes you? Cyclemon could use a tag or make their images clickable to clue their customers faster. Don't FORCE your customers to follow YOUR line through the forest of your products.

And, don't bait and switch. When Cyclemon LOOKS one way during the scroll and another after the click they violate the scenttrail rule - whatever is on the other side of a click must resemble and amplify what is on the other side.

Cyclemon violates the rule because they leave the ecommerce to after a long scroll and click. This is like inviting an insurance salesman to lunch. Be more clear upfront and you won't violate the Scenttrail Rule.

Oh and one more thing. The Cyclemon page defined our laptop as mobile. Make sure your sniffer is reading correctly before you expose it to the world or you lose trust and legitimacy both things needed if customers are going to open their wallets.

Best About Us PagesTeam Curagami is looking for great About Us pages. Our fav is http://www.rei.com/about-rei.html. hits all the "pillars" of a great about page including:

* It SOUNDS like them.* Includes A Creation Story.* Guiding Values Statement.* Save The World Cause.* Movement Outline (so people want to JOIN).* Some external confirmation ( for REI).

REI.com's About page has each of these "Great About Page" pillars. The page is also social, aware of itself (thus the question about how does it land at the bottom) and community focused.

By using a picture from a customer, noting the customer's name and paining the page with social share widgets REI.com says, "We are a community, a movement you should join if you too care about having fun in the great outdoors".

Well done About Page that tells THEIR story beautifully and invites customers in. Share your favorite About Us page and, if we use your suggestion, we will send a Tech Cures Cancer Tee along with our thanks.

Smart Web Design Trends Post@jowitaziobro taught our team some important ideas about what's next in #webdesign this morning. She states her goal as digging deeper than the usual suspects in web trends and she succeeds. Here are her 7 What's Next in Web Design Trends:

1. Gestures are the new clicks.

2. The "Fold" is dead (longer swipe-y pages see #1).

3. Websites are quicker users too (so lack of speed kills).

4. Pixel is dead (we used to limit our image sizes and "weight" with the web's advanced caching and Content Delivery Networks no need for such limitations anymore).

5. Animation is back (and about to be in a big way).

6. Components and frameworks are the new design and programming (need to reread and think on this one some).

7. Social Media is dead long live "direct" email.

Great post for a Monday. Hell great post for any day. Well done Jowita. Rock on. Marty

SEO For Web DesignersWeb designers are where rubber meets road for Search Engine Optimization, but it is unrealistic to expect designers to become SEO experts. This Haiku Deck sets reasonable expectations and outlines a handful of technical SEO best practices sure to help any web designer understand the most Darwinian of practices - today's SEO.

How Become A Great Web Marketer?Every time I suggest this idea to B2B content marketers they roll their eyes and think my suggestion stupid. Everyone can learn new ideas, ideas that inform all digital marketing, from creating an online store.

Each day someone asks how they can learn Internet marketing? Hard to sit in a classroom and learn this stuff. Better to DO IT and no better thing to do than use a tool such as Amazon's Associates to create an online store.

Think of how much stronger your personal brand would be if a potential hiring manager could see what you are reading, ask you questions about those books and get to know you long before an offer is made.

We live in a DIY time when 60% or more of the decision about YOU and your company's products, services and brands will be made BEFORE any active engagement (before picking up the phone or asking you to interview).

Given how much scrutiny your brand is under BEFORE you ever meet a prospect be it for a job or to make a B2B sale wouldn't it be a good idea to do something simple, engaging and fun to show how much you know about digital marketing. Let's see say I have two resumes on a pile and qualifications are equal, but one has a link to a blog & a "bookstore".

Which resume gets more engagement? Let's say your B2B Software As A Service Company is up for a big project. I go to your site and see the books that made you. I, as the hiring manager, have read several of them. We have a connection now and who am I more likely to hire?

HUGE benefits for half a day's work and work that teaches you more about how the web really works than every class you are likely to take (unless I'm teaching it of course lol). DO don't STUDY and you will understand one of the most important concepts about web marketing.

Burn Down Your WebsiteWebsites are cool and a great marketing aid...until they aren't. If the line of when they aren't isn't behind us we are approaching it. What is a "website" when we share posts on Medium, Scoop.it and GPlus?

Feels like the idea of a website as a MUST GO HERE to interact with our marketing message is hopeless out of touch. Even when we do GO to a website what are we looking for?

FUN, ENGAGEMENT and RELEVANCE.

The typical talking to yourself about yourself marketing that most flog online feels more than dead, it feels dangerous. Google's vote is clear - if your content doesn't create an increasing number of likes, loves, shares and loyalty your website is screwed, blued and tattooed.

Especially if someone in your immediate competitive sphere knows how to THROW DOWN, create community and MOVEMENTS instead of the usual solipsistic crap. Keep talking to yourself while someone else in your business vertical is hosting a party and you will be waxed.

Waxed because what really matters NOW is LOVE. If your win hearts and minds because you are honestly all in and listening hard you get to "win". If you are amazing you create blue oceans and uncontested competitive space for however long the ride lasts. Talking about FUN.

This Haiku Deck discusses the death of tactical web marketing. You can't out email market my team and I, or not for very long. We've been doing this crazy biz since 1999. You can gain an inch and we are likely to come back and take a mile.

Why do this? Because coolest thing since sliced bread to hit your customers is their smartphones. Getting your blog linked there is ONLY a good thing for your content marketing, community building and ecommerce.

Typography is an important but often under-represented part of a website's layout. With so much focus being placed on the presentational aspects of CSS and the use of large images and media that choke bandwidth restraints; it’s nice to occasionally remember that textual content can also make an impact on users and their experience. Content remains king, and a few good fonts can make even the simplest of sites look smart - though not so many that you have to wait for ages for the text to be visible.

Because of this, I’m going to show you a few handpicked examples of sites that make their content look terrific, and why you should consider following their example in your own work. We’re going to take a journey of how elegant typography can make a site shine; looking at the bold, creative, navigational, simplistic and interactive content that makes the designer's voice speak volumes - so let’s get started!...

Web Designer SEOOur SEO Tips for Web Designers hit a nerve. It is heading to 13,000 views (probably today). We hit a nerve because web Designers are where SEO rubber meets the road. This Haiku Deck is full of SEO tips for web designer including:

* Know who has the banana and why. * Know how much SEO you need to know.

Best of Indian Web Design with Zomato.com A Clear Standout

Indian web design is marked by innovation, clear Calls-To-Action and graceful use of current and future technology. "In India my generation," my friend Ravi told me the other day, "went right to mobile skipping laptops and desktops altogether".

I was looking at these sites with my laptop and expect they look great on smart phones too. Nothing like having must of your customers using mobile tech to make mobile first in both responsive templates and impressive data architecture (easy to see how these sites would accordion in mobile.

The foodie site Zomato.com lives up to its great name. The content, despite their not being "here" yet, is fresh, beautiful to look at and engaging. Zomato is about FOOD and, much like India herself, has few preconceived notions about what that means. .

Instead they curate with clear passion and grace. Every Indian site we studied had a clear sense of GET TO IT many American sites could learn from. Indian web designers know how to "tease", charm and win clicks by providing just the right information at the right time.

Many American designers seek to overwhelm and thus end up speaking to themselves about themselves. Better to box not look for the haymakers we seem to love so much here these great Indian web designed sites illustrate.

Ever have one of those light bulb moments. We had one tonight about the future of online marketing when we were able to get our Curagami YouTube channel on our "smart TV" thanks to our Roku box running an app.

Next stop is creating our own Roku Channel and learning more about how to segment and use YouTube. The link on this Scoop takes you to a post explaining how to create a Roku channel in 5 minutes. Roku is not full of blockbuster channels and how cool would it be to play in the same space as HBO and Amazon?

The price? Practically NOTHING now. Won't stay there for long, so get grandfathered in start your online marketing down the future's lane today.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.